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I turn around and the world stops spinning for a moment.
“Jack and coke, Firefly.”
Firefly…I haven’t heard that word in a long time.
Heat courses through my body as that one word drives me into a bubble where the crowd around us fades. The beats of the music thump in tandem with my heart and for one moment, I’m that girl again…the one that saw his protective blazing eyes as he sat on top of my father, the one that saw the hunger in them as he faced me rocking in the pool, and the one that felt all those dreams shatter that day in the hospital.
Danny…
That thought alone jerks me out of my haze.
“What are you doing here?” I stutter.
I gulp down the flutters that rise from my belly and get my items to prepare the required mixture in a new glass. He's looking out into the crowd and I try not to notice his generous amount of jet black hair, loose yet tamed, like his fingers, have run through it multiple times. It's perfect...like him…perfectly tailored. He's always looked put together…too put together for this place. Downtown Charleston had some upscale bars and clubs but this wasn't one of them and he stuck out like a sore thumb.
I slide the glass towards his hand with a rush of frustration that’s finally come back, “What are you doing here Jax?”
“I’m getting a drink,” his devious grin doesn’t miss a beat.
“You know the deal,” I shuffle nervously at the bar, viciously cleaning already shiny glasses and wiping down the bar top.
He takes a sip of his drink, washing it down with a hiss through his teeth, “Yes I know we had a deal.”
“Then you should leave,” my stomach is doing summersaults right now with a compilation of desire and anguish.
Seeing him does exactly to me, what I always expected it would. It reminds me of what I lost.
“Can’t…”
The word stops me in my tracks as a hand rests on my hip, “and why is that?”
"It's my bar," his eyes don't leave mine as he informs me, and my stomach drops.
I roll my eyes, leaning on the bar, catching my breath.
Of course, I would work at his bar. With all the damn bars around…I end up at his.
“How did I end up here?” I don’t realize I said the words out loud until he responds.
"It must have been fate, firefly," he takes another large gulp emptying the glass, and places it down sliding in front of me for a refill.
My eyes jerk back to his but this time with utter annoyance. I think he’s enjoying this. I grab the glass, “and don’t call me firefly.”
I refill his glass and bring it back with a sigh and my next conclusion, “well I’m just going to have to quit.”
His eyes widen, “why would you do that?”
"I don't want-, " no that's not true…, "I can't see you Jax. It's too hard," my heart thumps reliving the pain I'd buried so deep and his eyes seem to soften.
He pulls his glass to his lips, downing most of it in one long gulp, “alright, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have bothered you.”
My heart almost hurts as he says the words because I never wanted it to be this way…but it has to be.
“You don’t need to quit. I’ll stay out of sight. Just don’t quit. At least this way, I know you’re taken care of.”
Has he known I’ve worked here the entire time?
“Okay,” I blow out and he takes the last sip of his drink, slamming the glass down and walking away.
